A MAPLETON MAN WAS KILLED AND A SIOUX CITY RESIDENT WAS INJURED MONDAY NIGHT IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH.

THE IOWA STATE PATROL SAYS 29 YEAR OLD ROBERT PALMER DIED IN THE ACCIDENT AT HIGHWAY 141 AND SIOUX STREET IN MAPLETON.

PALMER WAS A PASSENGER IN A VEHICLE DRIVEN BY 29 YEAR OLD LENLEY RAY SCHOFIELD OF SIOUX CITY.

SCHOFIELD WAS DRIVING SOUTHBOUND ON 141 WHEN HE LOST CONTROL OF HIS VEHICLE.

IT CROSSED THE CENTER LINE AND INTO THE PATH OF A TRUCK DRIVEN BY 24 YEAR OLD JOSEPH DAGGETT OF GEORGE, IOWA.

THE TRUCK STRUCK THE PASSENGER SIDE OF SCHOFIELD'S CAR AND PUSHED IT ONTO A CURB NEAR THE INTERSECTION.

DAGGETT WAS NOT INJURED. SCHOFIELD WAS TRANSPORTED TO AN ONAWA HOSPITAL.
NEITHER PALMER OR SCHOFIELD WERE WEARING SEATBELTS.  

A Siouxland man has pleaded guilty to two counts of motor vehicular homicide and one count of drunken driving in an accident that killed two Wayne State College students near Emerson.

Fifty-five-year-old Robert Mahler, of Hubbard, pleaded guilty Monday in Dixon County District Court. Sentencing is Jan. 23.

Authorities say Mahler was driving drunk on the night of Sept. 9, on the wrong side of Nebraska Highway 9 and hit an oncoming motorcycle.

Two people on the motorcycle were killed - 20-year-old Christopher Oberg, of Mapleton, Iowa, and his passenger, 19-year-old Alexis Calfee, of Bennet, Neb.

Authorities say Mahler's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. Mahler faces a sentence of one to 50 years in prison on each of the vehicular homicide charges.

MID AMERICAN ENERGY HAS STARTED A NEW PROGRAM TO HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS FIND WAYS BETTER UNDERSTAND AND LOWER THEIR HOME ENERGY USE.

SPOKESMAN TIM GRABINSKI SAYS THE FIRST OF THE HOME ENERGY REPORTS WERE RECENTLY MAILED TO A SELCT GROUP OF CUSTOMERS:

GRABINSKI SAYS YOU CAN USE THAT INFORMATION AND REQUEST A HOME ENERGY AUDIT:

THE HOME ENERGY REPORT COMPARISONS ARE ANONYMOUS AND ARE MAILED SEPARATELY FROM THE REGULAR MONTHLY UTILITY BILLS

IOWA CONGRESSMAN STEVE KING WAS IN LE MARS THIS (MON) MORNING HOSTING A TOWN HALL MEETING.

THERE HE ADDRESSED THE LIKELY FAILURE OF THE BI-PARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL SUPER COMMITTEE TO CUT UP TO 1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS FROM THE FEDERAL BUDGET.
       

THE 12 SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN ARE TO ANNOUNCE THEIR PLAN BY WEDNESDAY, BUT KING BELIEVES THEY WILL NOT MEET THAT DEADLINE:

BUT KING SAYS THOSE CUTS WOULDN'T KICK IN UNTIL 2013....AND A LOT COULD CHANGE BY THEN:

KING IS ADVOCATING FOR A BALANCED FEDERAL BUDGET, SOMETHING 49 OF THE 50 STATES CURRENTLY REQUIRE.

CONTRIBUTED BY DENNIS MORRICE KLEM LE MARS